Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Brian R. Crowell, Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), today announced that FELIX TRUJILLO-MANRIQUE was extradited yesterday from Colombia for allegedly conspiring to import heroin from Colombia into the U.S. TRUJILLO-MANRIQUE, a citizen of Colombia, was arrested by Colombian National Police in October 2010, at the request of the U.S. He will be presented and arraigned today in federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew J. Peck. U.S. District Court Judge J. Paul Oetken is assigned to the case.

As alleged in the Indictment unsealed yesterday in Manhattan federal court and other court documents:

TRUJILLO-MANRIQUE was a leader of an international conspiracy to traffic kilogram quantities of heroin from Colombia through Ecuador and ultimately into the U.S. TRUJILLO-MANRIQUE, who was based in Colombia, supplied couriers in Ecuador with heroin which they then smuggled into the U.S. via international flights, including flights into John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. In connection with the investigation into TRUJILLO-MANRIQUE, more than ten kilograms of heroin were seized in South America and New York City.

The Indictment charges TRUJILLO-MANRIQUE, 42, with one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin and one count of conspiracy to import heroin into the United States. If convicted, TRUJILLO-MANRIQUE faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding efforts of the DEA’s New York Drug Enforcement Task Force Group T-23, which conducted the investigation along with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations New York Narcotics Group II. The DEA’s New York Drug Enforcement Task Force is comprised of members of the DEA, the New York City Police Department, and the New York State Police. Mr. Bharara also thanked U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the New Jersey Field Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the DEA Bogota Country Office, the DEA Guayaquil Resident Office, the DEA Baltimore District Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, the Colombian National Police, the U.S. Department of Justice Office of International Affairs, the U.S. Department of State, and Interpol for their assistance in this matter.

The case is being handled by the Narcotics Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Robert L. Boone is in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.